New client installation GP 10 and GP Utilities

Question Status

I am only remotely familiar with GP; our DBA is out and I need to get 3 additional clients online asap. I have installed the client software and SP2, and have configured and tested ODBC properly.

When I launch the app, I get tow error messages: " \\server\Reports.dic needs to be upgraded. Use Dynamics GP utilities to update your modified forms and reports" and "You need to run Dynamics GP Utilities before you can run Dynamics GP. Do you want to launch now"

I am concerned about impact as I am not familiar with Utilities. We presently have five other clients active and presently working in GP and I cannot disrupt productivity.

If I run GP Utilities on the client, will it touch the server in any way? I am concerned about he message referring to updating the server-based modified forms and reports. If changes are done to the forms and reports on the server, will the other five employees get error messages or kicked out of Dynamics?

What, if any, are the concerns, "gotchas" or "non-documented issues" that running Utilities will create?

When you install a SP, the workstation needs to check with the server to make sure the versions are the same. This is why you are being prompted to run utilities. If the workstation if at a higher version then the server it will want to upgrade the server. You will get a message stating your Dynamics database is NOT at the current version and it wants to upgrade. If you get this message, you need to STOP as you are just about to upgrade tables. If you are applying the same service pack, you will get the check, but then have the workstation synch to the server. Once that is done, and assuming you are installing the same version the server is running, you should be able to launch Dynamics.

This is what I understand your situation. Your "five other clients" are currently running a pre-SP2 GP client. And you're doing a new installation for 3 more additional GP clients with SP2. When you run GP for one of a new clients w/ SP2, you received an error message that Form and Reports dictionary are not up-to-date. With GP when you upgrade to a higher version (i.e. applying a Service Pack) you must upgrade the form and report dictionary to the current version as well.

If all clients (5+3) are running SP2, then check the path of the reports.dic in DYNAMICS.set for your new 3 clients. It may point to the old reports.dic. If so, and you don't want to interrupt other 5 clients, copy the reports.dic to a new shared folder for your 3 new clients and run the upgrade. Make sure the path to a reports.dic is correct for your 3 new clients.

I always use a separate reports.dic which is located locally with the rest of my clients and have no problem.

Thank you both for your input. Allow me to add more specifics, and hopefully a bit more clarity, now that I understand “how” to ask this question.

o Each of the five (5) existing and “in production” workstations are running the following version: Dynamics 10.00.1301, Dexterity 10.0.320.0, and Smartlist 10.00.1165. From what I can determine, that means SP2 has been applied.

o All five are running XP Pro.

o On all workstations, the DYNAMICS.set shows the REPORTS.DIC to be located at //<server>/gpd/DynamicsGP/Reports/REPORTS.DIC.

o I am installing Dynamics GP on three new Win7 machines (32 bit) over the network from a “package” our Partner created and left on our server for future client installations.

o The initial Dynamics GP installation completed without error.

o I installed SP2 on the machines. SP2 completed without error.

o On the new client machine, after installtion, the DYNAMICS.set file shows the location of the REPORTS.dic to be //<server>/gpd/DynamicsGP/Reports/REPORTS.DIC, which is the same location as the existing XP machines.

(2nd msg) "You need to run Dynamics GP Utilities before you can run Dynamics GP. Do you want to launch Utilities now?"

Q1> Since the REPORTS.dic lives on the server, and locations on the new (win7) clients are the same as the existing (XP) clients both of which point to the server, and since the existing XP clients are already on SP2, I am confused as to why I am getting the message that the REPORTS .dic needs to be upgraded when I launch GP from the new (win7) client? What does it mean that it wil be "upgraded", and what "update" will be done to the forms and reports? What modifications will be done to them, and will the existing XP machines be able to still access them after they have been upgraded/updated?

Q2> If I run Utilities on the new (win7) client, will Utilities have any effect on the server, or anything else that might cause the existing (xp) clients to fail?

Thank you for the update. Looking at your information above, a few things standout;

At my company we never use install packages. This is just our preference, but we have found many issues with them in the past and, as a company rule do not use them.

Looking at your versions you sent:

Dynamics 10.00.1301, Dexterity 10.0.320.0, and Smartlist 10.00.1165.

Dynamics 10.00.1301 is GP 10 SP3 with the March Tax update applied.

Dexterity 10.0.320.0 is GP 10 SP3

Smartlist 10.00.1165 is GP 10 SP3

This is why you are having issue. The version on the workstation does not match the version for the reports dictionary. This is why you are getting a message to upgrade dictionary version.

If you launch utilities from any of the 3 new workstations, you should not be able to finish the synching to the server. You are going to get an error telling you to look at the duinstall.log for issues. The issue you are going to find in the error log is that your workstation is version 10.0.1061 (or close to that) and the server is version 10.00.1301.

To resolve this issue you will need to apply SP3 to the workstation. You will still have to launch utilities to synch to the server, but you should be able to after applying SP3.

Once again - thank you for your input. On a direclty related question, I cannot load SP3 since I cannot FIND SP3 as a download. The only one I can find is SP5. Our partner did not leave SP3 onsite either in a working folder or on disc.

Are there any concerns about installing SP5 over SP3? Will SP5 cause any conflictions or problems with existing functionality? What problems (or undocumented errors) might I expect by installing SP5? We have FrX loaded on one workstation. Will SP5 interfere or conflict/corrupt this also?

This is REALLY frustrating now. I installed GP from an installation package our "partner" created and left on the network, then installed SP2, which was the only SP they left. GP would not run due to version conflicts. So now I have downloaded SP3 and when I try to launch, I get the same message. After Utilities launches, it goes through its "Validating Product Version Information" and then fails with the message referring me to duinstall.log. I looked at that log at the error messages are the same as they were before!

Failure encountered ON 11/16/2010 at 4:55:28 PM. Error: You are attempting to configure an older version of product 0. Database 10.0.1301 Code 10.0.1193.

Failure encountered ON 11/16/2010 at 4:55:28 PM. Error: You are attempting to configure an older version of product 309. Database 10.0.1289 Code 10.0.1061.

Failure encountered ON 11/16/2010 at 4:55:28 PM. Error: You are attempting to configure an older version of product 949. Database 10.0.1292 Code 10.0.1161.

Failure encountered ON 11/16/2010 at 4:55:28 PM. Error: You are attempting to configure an older version of product 5597.

Failure encountered ON 11/16/2010 at 4:55:28 PM. Error: Product 0 does not support upgrading from version 10.0.1301.

Failure encountered ON 11/16/2010 at 4:55:28 PM. Error: Product 309 does not support upgrading from version 10.0.1289.

Failure encountered ON 11/16/2010 at 4:55:28 PM. Error: Product 949 does not support upgrading from version 10.0.1292.

Failure encountered ON 11/16/2010 at 4:55:28 PM. Error: Product 5597 does not support upgrading from version 10.0.1296.

These messages repeat muliple times.

I tried to install from CD, but have no idea the "products" that need to be installed or htat were acquired by the company.

Any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated!! What am I doing WRONG? Is Dynamics really THIS hard to install?

I assume the new installation you're doing now is on Windows 7 Professional. If so, do a clean uninstall of GP and try to install it again; however, this time run the setup with Run As Administrator option. Try this:

It is 199MB large and version will say 10.00.1301. This is the version your databases are on. After you download and install that you should be good to go.

This download includes SP3 so for the next workstation this is the only service pack you will need to install.

If you are still having issues, send me a message with your email or phone number and I would be happy to contact you to walk through this. I am based in California so I believe I am an hour behind you.

Rick: Thank you for finding the proper download that I needed. It is being downloaded now. I'll try to install tomorrow and post my response.

Thong: I'm going to try to install the proper SP first before I do a complete uninstall. Good suggestion though and I may end up having to do that.

Warren: Isn't this is why forums like this exist? To assist and answer questions, and help educate and inform? I'm not certain who your Partner is, or if you ARE a Partner, but sometimes situations exist that make contacting a Partner more complicated. Thank you for your suggestion but no, I will not contact my Partner.

Hi...maybe I missed something. Does GP finish its install on the new workstations? (OK maybe it asks you to run utilities when you try and launch afterwards...but ignore that, the question is does the install run to completion?)

If so, run the install and nothing else. Don't try and launch GP. Then, copy the contents of the GP application folder from an existing good workstation and paste it into the application folder on the new workstation (Basically overwrite what you just installed with the files from one of the existing workstations).

This will mean that the new install is at EXACTLY the same version as the old workstation. So when you launch GP, everything is in synch and you won't be asked to run utilities or anything else.

When doing this, it makes life a lot easier if you choose the same install folder names as you used with the old workstation, so you are not messing around with Dynamics.set files etc. after the copy over.

Later when all workstations are installed and running, you can download service pack 5 and install it as part of a normal update.

The KB968118 was the SP needed for the systems. After I installed the SP, I launched GP and it ran Utilities successfully. I had one of our Finance department members log on to each workstations to verify operationality and all is good.

Ian: great suggestion. Not dealing with GP before this project, I wasnt certain if a "copy/paste" would actually suffice. I'm glad I proceeded the way I did though as I understand a LOT more about GP now. If I went the copy/paste route straight off, I dont know if I would have obtained this knowedge and experience. Now that I have gone through this initial process, yes, copy/paste probably would have resolved my woes much sooner.

Thank you all who participated. I sincerely appreciate the assistance.

Thank you for the update. Looking at your information above, a few things standout;

At my company we never use install packages. This is just our preference, but we have found many issues with them in the past and, as a company rule do not use them.

Looking at your versions you sent:

Dynamics 10.00.1301, Dexterity 10.0.320.0, and Smartlist 10.00.1165.

Dynamics 10.00.1301 is GP 10 SP3 with the March Tax update applied.

Dexterity 10.0.320.0 is GP 10 SP3

Smartlist 10.00.1165 is GP 10 SP3

This is why you are having issue. The version on the workstation does not match the version for the reports dictionary. This is why you are getting a message to upgrade dictionary version.

If you launch utilities from any of the 3 new workstations, you should not be able to finish the synching to the server. You are going to get an error telling you to look at the duinstall.log for issues. The issue you are going to find in the error log is that your workstation is version 10.0.1061 (or close to that) and the server is version 10.00.1301.

To resolve this issue you will need to apply SP3 to the workstation. You will still have to launch utilities to synch to the server, but you should be able to after applying SP3.

It is 199MB large and version will say 10.00.1301. This is the version your databases are on. After you download and install that you should be good to go.

This download includes SP3 so for the next workstation this is the only service pack you will need to install.

If you are still having issues, send me a message with your email or phone number and I would be happy to contact you to walk through this. I am based in California so I believe I am an hour behind you.